This invention relates to machines and methods for stacking articles at the end of conveyors.
In many industrial operations articles of definitive structure are successively transported by conveyor means to a location where they are stacked one upon the other. In many cases the articles are of such size as to preclude their being stacked by merely falling from the end of the conveyor or transport table at the end thereof. This is due to the fact that they are typically conveyed at insufficient speeds for their individual momentums to overcome the friction each encounters as it slides atop the preceding one already halted at the stacking station. Such is also due to variations in orientations between successive articles upon the conveyor.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a machine and method for stacking articles adjacent the end of a conveyor.
More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide machines and methods for stacking articles having angularly conjoined article panels in a stacking station at the end of the conveyor.
Another object of the invention is to provide machines for stacking articles adjacent the end of a conveyor which do not require drive means independent of the conveyor.
Another object of the invention is to provide machines and methods for stacking articles at the end of a conveyor snugly together in mutual alignment, though the articles may be independently skewed or misaligned with respect to each other on the conveyor.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide machines and methods of the type described which are relatively easy to install, use and service.